Case Report

Prevalence Of Fungi As Opportunistic Pathogens In Active And Post-treated Pulmonary Tuberculosis Cases -a Comparative Study

Abstract :

Background :Tuberculosis is one of the leading causes of death all over the world. The course of infection and treatment makes the patient vulnerable to opportunistic fungal infections, which is mostly misdiagnosed. Materials and methods: This was a one year Cross-sectional study. In this study patients who were clinically diagnosed of Pulmonary Tuberculosis kept under Group 1 while post treated cases of pulmonary tuberculosis having respiratory symptoms were in group 2. Total 50 sputum samples were observed in each group. All the samples were subjected to KOH mount, culture and identification according to standard diagnostic criteria. These criteria included morphological and cultural characteristics, Germ tube experiment and tests for carbohydrate assimilation and fermentation. The molds isolated were subjected to LPCB mount and reported according to their distinct morphology. Results: A total of 100 samples were screened(50 Active and 50 Post-treated pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) cases), in which 55% opportunistic fungal pathogens were detected. The prevalence of opportunistic fungal infection was 58% amongst the active PTB cases and 52% in post-treated cases of pulmonary TB. Candida species (40%) were the most common isolates in active PTB cases and in post treated PTB cases Aspergillus spp.(34%) species was more common. Conclusion: The coexistence of fungi with tubercle bacilli complicates a patients condition by adding more damaging and fatal dimensions to it.

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